My husband has never been a big fan of curries. So, it came as a surprise when last week he asked me to accompany him for dinner to Avari for having curry for dinner. Yes, that’s all he told me. Like all men, he’s always tight lipped about where we are going, whats the occasion and who’s going to be there. Men never understand that all of these questions help me decide what to wear so that one is neither under dressed nor overdressed.

Khair, upon arriving at Avari Towers, it became clear that “having curry for dinner” was an understatement. Avari Tower celebrated “Curries of the World” for three consecutive days. To say that there were curries from all over the world won’t be right coz I do not think that they have curries in the European or North and South American countries; however. The selection was huge.

Most curries were from Asian region and I loved tasting all of them. Specially coz I had been trying to control my diet by eating a lot of salads which left me in a sour mood most of the time. And I indulged myself fully at the Curries of the World. I tried and ate almost all of the dishes except for the Pakistani ones.

The food was amazing. Curries tasted really good. There were normal, garlic and butter naans to eat with curries as well as rice. There were curries from different countries, including Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and India.

Butter Chicken was the star of day. The buttery smooth taste was so good. I also loved the Sri Lankan chicken with vegetables. From Pakistani curries, there was beef nihari, beef koftay, mutton karahi, kunna, paye and some daal.

Salads at Avari are my fav part. Some salty, some tangy but all perfect. I am in love with the salads served at Avari buffet. I can eat them as the main course. Yes, they are that good.

Desserts are always good too. This time, there were traditional Pakistani dessert as well as cheesecake kinda ones too. But I stayed away from desserts this time as I have been working hard to lose weight.

It was a good experience. Loved eating such varied tasting food. I am so glad my husband insisted that we go there for the Curries of the World fest.

Some people have such a personality which demands everyone’s attention. Wherever they go, whatever they do becomes center of attention. So is the case with Mubasher Lucman. Mubasher Lucman is a journalist and popular media personality of Pakistan. His name, his face and his achievements are widely known. He is a seasoned anchor of political talk shows. His investigative journalism, blunt questioning of politicians have led to an image of a bold and inquisitive personality.

He has never shied away from lime light. After all Mubasher Lucman is a media person and that is what is important for him. His affiliation with the opposition party and its leaders has led many to admire him where as many openly bash him. He has made a name for himself as a straightforward and direct person. He has always asked hard hitting questions from his guests at his talk shows and even though he has been threatened, on air and off air; he has never digressed.

Mubasher Lucman has been named as the top most media personality of Pakistan by Brands Magazine and as the second most popular personality of Pakistan after Imran Khan. To be named as the popular personality within the league of Imran Khan is indeed a big thing. Mubasher Lucman has indeed gained massive popularity and friends and foes alike can vouch for the fact that he stands with what he believes in and wants to uncover the corruption and dishonest dealings of politicians of Pakistan.

Mubasher Lucman is very active on social media and can be found sharing his views across Facebook and twitter frequently. He calls out the politicians for their untruthful statements on twitter and share his thoughts with his 4 million followers regularly.

Convenience is what we all look for when we go for shopping. Yes, we want the most convenient shopping mall that’s closer to our home, we choose a time when there is little traffic and so on and so forth. And that is what Fone Pay by Master Pass is all about. And the concept of convenience offered by Fone Pay is beautifully presented in its latest ad.

See the ad below

Isn’t the jingle catchy? “Fone Pay, Fone Pay sari dunya”. I genuinely like it. I think it was clever of the advertising team as well as creative team who came up with this jingle to incorporate Fone pay within such a meaningful sentence. Yes, we carry the world in our phones. And yes, FONE PAY is indeed the name of the service. So, you see within this service, using phone you can carry the world with you.

The whole ad has a vibrancy and fresh energy. It makes you want to snap your fingers and move your foot with the beat. It is just a light, upbeat kind of an ad without any severity to it. It does lack any message but the brand message is loud and clear. The Fone Pay is for everyone, to use everywhere.

Too often we see ads that just have people dancing around in weddings whether its an ad about tea, milk, chocolate or some such thing. Point is, the entire scene set for the ad is relevant. Shopping mall, train station or any other place; you can now pay by Fone Pay.

What are your thoughts about this ad? Do you find it simple and lively to?

HONEY

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BAKING SODA

Yes, honey plus baking soda work great for my skin. Baking soda has anti-inflammatory, antiseptic, antibacterial, and anti-fungal, properties. And honey is good for unclogging pores, fighting acne, giving skin a glow and anti-aging. Mixing these 2 together can give you a glowy skin without using harsh chemicals. Perfect skin with natural ingredients.

Mix 2 Tbs of Honey and 1 Tbs of baking soda and rub it all over your skin. Be gentle around the eye area, better yet don’t rub it in just let it sit. Rub this mixture for about 3-5 minutes and then leave it on for 15-20 minutes and wash it off with cold water.

And that’s it. Use a toner and then a moisturizer on your skin after this.

You will find a healthy glow about your skin from the first use. I use this scrub/mask once a week.

Tapas are the tiny, quick beat Spanish dishes. And I have never seen food more beautiful than what was served at Mediterranean Tapas at Avari Towers Karachi. Appetizers, Savory dishes and desserts, everything looked so good that I didn’t want to eat anything lest it disturbs the way it all looked.

Believe me when I tell you that the food tasted better than the pictures. The appetizers were light and on point. Savory dishes distinctive and yummy. And what to say about the desserts; richness in every bite. I won’t go on and on about the food and let the pictures tempt you.

Who doesn’t love pizza? I love pizza and have tried various different recipes and variations. Pizza bites can make excellent appetizers and since everyone loves pizza, they are usually very popular.

Here are 5 quick bites pizza appetizers that you can make for any party. I assure you every one will love them. And be sure to make a lot of them, as they I can tell you from experience that you will run out of them super quick.

Today, I am sharing my ideas for pizza appetizers only, will come to recipes later. You can choose any topping you like. I love pepperoni and cheese pizza, so sharing appetizers with these ingredients. You can add topping that you like or experiment, what ever works for you.

I don’t like baking. There are too many variables. Only the best of ingredients should be used, recipe should be followed in the right order and oven temperature has to be accurate and in the end and what not.

So, for the last couple of months I have been trying to follow clean diet; eating low carb foods and more proteins. I had this huge craving for burgers but the usual store bought bun are a big no-no in the diet plan that I am following so I decided to bake whole wheat buns and guess what, they turned out amazing. I found so many recipes for whole wheat bread and buns online.

I tweaked a few and here I am with my version of the easiest recipe for healthy whole wheat buns.

Mix in egg, salt, water and flour to the yeast mixture. You will form a soft and slightly sticky dough.

Let dough sit for 5 minutes.

On a very well floured surface knead the dough until smooth. Continue to add flour as necessary to avoid the dough from sticking to your hands or the surface (you may feel like it is a lot of flour – I use about 1/2 – 3-4 cup). Knead for about 4-5 minutes.

Divide the dough into 8-10 buns.

Place on baking sheet with approximately one and a half inches between buns.

Cover and let rest for 15 minutes. Buns will grow but not double in size. In the meantime, preheat oven to 425°. My oven is really old and does not have temperature adjustment buttons or knob so I keep it on high. It took me 10 minutes for turning these buns golden brown.

Bake buns for 8-12 minutes, until golden brown.

You can use these buns for burgers and subs. I cut the leftover buns in slices and spread garlic butter on them an baked. These turned out pretty good too.

Try this recipe and let me know how your buns turned out in the comments.